About Me

I am a non-asian who has lived and worked in Asia for two decades. I hate racism of all forms but i am particularly concerned about racism perpetuated by asians against non-asians. This blog is not meant to deny other forms of racism but simply to highlight the racism that is perpetuated by asian societies, governments and individuals.
I also hope to show the double standards that many asians employ when criticizing other societies about racist attitudes.
It is my hope that this blog will be a small step in the eradication of racism all over the world.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Violence in Burma: oppression of Rohingya Muslims

A great article was published this week highlighting the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Burma. The article can be found here.

Whilst the violence has a religious aspect to it, it is also
deeply rooted in ethnic stereotypes.
Rampant hatred by the ruling elite (Ko Ko Gyi, who played a key role in
the 1988 democratic uprising has not been particularly elegant in describing
them) must be understood against the background of a genocidal campaign against
them in the lat 70s and early 80s.

The International Crisis Group explained they conflict in
these terms:

“The sheer level of racism
against them in Burmese society, enforced by a government policy of
discrimination and abuse, lies at the core of the matter.”

A full copy of the article is reproduced below for your
convenience and for research purposes.

AR1

Burma's ethnic hatred

July 8, 2012

Hanna Hindstrom

The recent brutal religious violence in Burma's western
Arakan state has cast a shadow on the country's democratic progress. Dozens of
people have been killed and hundreds of homes destroyed as Buddhists and
Rohingya Muslims clash near the Bangladeshi border in the country's worst
sectarian violence in decades.

Even more shocking than the violence has been the public
outpouring of vitriol aimed at the Rohingya, the stateless minority group at
the centre of the conflict.

Considered ''illegal Bengali immigrants'' by the government,
they are denied citizenship and are widely despised within Burmese society.
Anti-Rohingya views have swept both social and mainstream media, seemingly
uniting politicians, human rights activists, journalists, and civil society
across Burma's myriad ethnic groups.

''The so-called Rohingya are liars,'' one pro-democracy
group said on Twitter. ''We must kill all the kalar,'' another social media
user said. Kalar is a racial slur applied to dark-skinned people from the
Indian subcontinent.

Burmese refugees, who themselves have fled persecution,
gathered at embassies around the world to protest against the ''terrorist''
Rohingya invading their homeland. Even the prominent student leader Ko Ko Gyi,
who played a key role in the 1988 democratic uprising, lambasted them as
impostors and frauds.

No doubt Burma's nascent media freedom has played a key role
in stirring up religious tensions. Vast swaths of inflammatory misinformation
are circulating inside Burma, with mainstream media largely accusing al-Qaeda
and ''illegal Bengali terrorists'' of staging the violence in a bid to spread
Islam in Asia. Many allege that the Rohingya are burning their own houses to
attract attention.

One newspaper published a graphic photograph of the corpse
of Thida Htwe, a Buddhist woman whose rape and murder - allegedly by three
Muslim men - instigated the violence, prompting the President, Thein Sein, to
suspend the publication using censorship laws.

These are the same papers that in recent months have openly
criticised the government for the first time since a nominally civilian
administration took over last year.

Ironically, this freedom has also led to a virulent backlash
against foreign and exiled media, who have reported on the plight of the
Rohingya, described by the United

Nations as one of the world's most persecuted groups.

Following the latest violence, a number of online campaigns
have been set up to co-ordinate attacks against news outlets that dare to report
on the Rohingya's plight. Angry protesters rallied in Rangoon this week,
brandishing signs reading ''Bengali Broadcast Corporation'' and ''Desperate
Voice of Bengali''.

The latter was a reference to this reporter's employer, the
Democratic Voice of Burma, the Norwegian broadcaster that has made a name for
itself among many Burmese as one of the most reliable sources of information
about their country.

Recently the broadcaster faced the biggest attack on its
website in its history, and its Facebook page is still under constant assault
from people issuing threats and posting racist material.

As the International Crisis Group explains, the violence is
both a consequence of, and a threat to, Burma's political transition.

The ongoing crisis illustrates the need for Burma to embrace
not only independent, but also responsible and inclusive, journalism. To
facilitate this transition, the government must take concrete steps to address
the underlying dispute about the Rohingya. The sheer level of racism against them
in Burmese society, enforced by a government policy of discrimination and
abuse, lies at the core of the matter.

A politician from the military-backed Union Solidarity and
Development Party has called for a ''king dragon operation'', the name for a 1978
military operation run by the dictator General Ne Win to stamp out the Rohingya
population from Northern Arakan state.

Meanwhile, reports of army complicity in attacks on Muslim
homes are growing after a state of emergency was declared last month. The immigration
minister, Khin Yi, has again reiterated that ''there are no Rohingya in
Burma,'' while Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy continues to
carefully sidestep the hot-button issue.

State media has also fanned tensions by using the racial
slur kalar in their official appeal for calm after 10 Muslim pilgrims were
murdered to avenge Htwe's death.

While the government has taken ostensible steps to calm the
violence, including publishing a retraction for the racial slur, it is far from
sufficient. Neither is invoking draconian censorship laws a viable solution.

There must be a rational public debate on the future of the
Rohingya minority in Burma.

The issue is sensitive and complex, but it cannot be
ignored. Political leaders, especially Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi, along
with the international community, have an obligation to drive this process. A
failure to do so threatens to unravel Burma's democratic reform at a time when
it cannot afford to regress.